Chapter 16

“……”

Kael’s thick silence that fell over them was so heavy Damia lowered her eyes in misery.

I felt as if I had become a condemned criminal waiting for my neck to fall.

“Sorry, Damia. I don’t… I don’t even know what to say, and I’m so sorry for all this time.”

An apology trickled out of his mouth. Kael stammered out of embarrassment.

“Well, you know, I’m going to be a paladin… And you know. The knights of the Saint can’t get married.”

“Yes.”

Damia answered back with unfocused eyes. She had just clearly witnessed him stepping back as if Kael wanted to run away at once. It was a more pronounced refusal than simple words.

“I don’t hate you, Damia. I’m telling you, but it’s so sudden, and I have a dream… I don’t think I can give up now. Sorry, Damia.”

“I understand what you mean. So stop it, Kael.”

“……but I’m sorry.”

Is there anything more miserable than the constant word of apology from the person you confessed to? There was the sound of my heart breaking into pieces.

Damia whispered with her eyes cast down before tears came out.

“It’s all right. You don’t have to be sorry to me. Because it’s not the fault of the one who doesn’t love me.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose Dami. I…….”

“Okay, can you go now? I want to be alone for a moment. Please.”

Damia’s voice was relatively calm, thanks to her desperate efforts. Nevertheless, Kael could not quickly get out of her way. It was only natural, considering his weak nature.

“Damia… I’m not just spouting empty words, but you’re a really good woman. So if you just look away, you’ll be able to meet someone who’ll like you as much as you deserve.”

Kael, you want me not to be offended about what you just said! The direction this conversation was turning was awful. Find another man — when I‘ve been struggling with my love for you for ten years! It was more comforting than you didn’t say anything.

It was Dami’s choice whether to continue to like Kael even after she was rejected or not. It was not an issue he could argue with.

Furthermore, with her step-brother’s cunning influence, Kael was probably trying to push her towards him.

If Damia stays like this, she’ll cry, get angry, and look ugly. So Dami broke away.

“Please, Kael! Don’t make meany more miserable; just go away!”

At the end of my speech, I ended up bursting into tears. The crying from a mature Damia worked. Kael backed away in a fit of fright.

Damia, who finally forced him to step away, turned her back as he waited.

Kael hesitated to see if it was okay to go as it was, but it was apparent that an angry plea for him to leave would be handed down from her back. Adding to the pressure that he had just refused to her confession, Kael finally lost the courage to stick around.

“… … I’m sorry Damia. Please forget about a guy like me as soon as possible.”

Kael, muttering with a tearful face, turned around. And he ran away like he was running away from Damia and her feelings for him.

Damier crouched down and heard his footsteps fade away.

It was the sound of a long one-sided painful love breaking apart. It was also the sound of Kael stepping on the pieces of her broken heart.

I was in love for ten years. Ever since the day he wiped away her tears with his clumsy hands and gave her the small glass bead that he cherished as a treasure.

At that time, the most important person to Kael was his childhood friend Damia. But not now after ten years. Kael had just broken their relationship in a very amiable and painful way.

‘You want me to meet a good person as soon as possible?’

Dami remembered the words that had left her in tears. At first glance, it seemed like comforting words spoken for Damia benefit, but it was for Kael himself. To relieve the guilt of refusing Damia.

So Dami was even more miserable.

I already knew that it was a love that could not be returned.

However, Kael’s attitude toward the confession was more irresponsible and cruel than expected.

Damia murmured, stifling her trembling body with a sob.

“If that’s what you want, Kael, then I’ll do it.”

I caught a glimpse of a man’s back disappearing over a ridge just in time as if he had listened to her. Unfortunately, it was not Kael.

“Cesare…”

Damia stared at him with tearful eyes.

Even though I could only see his back, I could tell in an instant.

By now, Cesare will be smiling contently like a cat licking the cream. You feel like you’ve already got your hands on me.

I’ve had enough of it all. The unrequited love that’s made me crawl on my knees for too long, Cesare’s trap that has been so cunningly tightened around me, and the love that’s never been returned.

Suddenly, I thought it would be better if I threw it all away and ruined it all.